How did Penny Hydraulics get involved in producing tail lifts and cranes for light commercial vehicles?

John Penny founded Penny Hydraulics 30 years ago as a business specialising in remanufacturing and servicing hydraulic equipment of all makes and types, from garage equipment to mining equipment. As a consequence the firm built up a relationship with the Lucas service centres that were around at the time that involved servicing their hydraulic jacks. One day a customer came in and said that he needed an onboard hoist that he could use to lift items in and out of the back of his Ford Transit van. As a result John Penny developed the first Swing Lift crane. As a shrewd businessman he realised that the vast majority of people had no idea who Penny Hydraulics were, but in those days there was a Lucas site on every high street. As he had already got a relationship with Lucas he went to them and suggested that they establish a division to sell his Swing Lift cranes; and that's what happened. Lucas set up its special products operation and everything went fine.

What happened next?

Subsequent significant changes at Lucas prompted us to decide to take the cranes back in 2000 and do the lot ourselves in-house. We felt that things would work better if we were in charge of everything, including sales and marketing as well as design and manufacturing. Of course we were no longer able to use the Lucas name, but by that time the Swing Lift brand was well-established — so were some of the brand names that we use on our other automotive products — and that gave us a huge advantage.

What does the product range consist of now?

We're still involved in the mining industry and we supply hydraulic rams for all sorts of applications, including flight simulators used by the RAF. We make a special lift that makes it easier to get beer and cases of drinks in and out of pub cellars and on the automotive side we produce tail lifts as well as cranes. We've got an extensive aftersales support operation too; we try to offer cradle-to-grave care for all of our products.

How extensive is your Swing Lift line-up?

We start with one that has a 100kg capacity that's used by BT then progress right the way up to a 2.5 tonne/metre hydraulic crane. They are all fitted with devices designed to prevent overloading.

How about tail lifts?

We offer side- and rear-mounted models with a capacity of up to around 500kg, including products for pick-ups as well as vans. They're all cantilever lifts, which means that there are no columns that hang down. That's a big advantage for companies like Network Rail — one of our most important customers — because it means that their maintenance crews won't have to risk columns getting bent when they take vehicles off-road to go track-side. Going the cantilever route also makes it easier for operators to use existing tow bar mountings if they want to pull trailers. As for the tail lift platform, we can offer it in steel, mesh or aluminium. 

Do you produce tail lifts for specialised applications?

Yes. We make them for the tyre industry, for example, to make it easier for mobile technicians employed by ATS, for instance, to load and unload large wheels and tyres. It's especially useful if a big tyre is being re-grooved because it allows the technician to get the tyre into his van and work on it in there in the dry rather than wedging it between his knees and doing the job outside in the rain. Another good example is a special version of our Load Lift that we've developed and make for the Royal Mail to help load and unload the York wheeled cages they use to move post. But although we do business with a lot of major fleet operators, we're more than happy to deal with the guy who has got just one van or pick-up and offer him a bespoke solution too.

How do you set about selling your products?

We sell direct to end-users — we've got sales guys on the road who go out to see them and we've got a fleet of demonstrators too — as well as through bodybuilders and main dealers. We've joined forces with Nissan to offer our products on its light commercials through the Nissan dealer network. Cabstar is ideal for builders merchants who need to deliver big bags of sand and gravel to private houses and we've equipped a Cabstar with one of our V Range hydraulic cranes for the Meadowhall Shopping Centre near Sheffield. It will be used to deploy flood defence barriers in an emergency.

Do you work closely with the light commercial manufacturers?